David Naggar will end his 16 year association with Bantam Doubleday Dell/Random House by year’s end, according to a memo distributed this morning by Jenny Frost, president and publisher of the Crown Publishing Group and who is Naggar’s boss. After working at BDD in several roles and at Bertelsmann’s French book club, Naggar held a number of different positions at Random and is currently president of the Random House Audio & Diversified Publishing Group, president of the Random House Information Group, and president of Fodor’s Travel.
Replacing Naggar “will be no easy task,” Frost wrote. Until a replacement or replacements have been named, all publishers and executives who reported to Naggar will report to Frost. Frost praised Naggar as an “astute strategic thinker and planner who “led the businesses under him to record results over the last five years.” One of Naggar’s major initiatives during his tenure was the revamping of Fodor’s in which he brought the online and print components of the division closer together.
